Lunch at Raku in WEHO

Thanks, super thanks to FTC peeps for turning me onto Raku. The place is awesome!! Went there for lunch. For a while, we were the only patrons in the place. We sat at the bar. At first, everyone seemed so polite and distant, but we ended chatting and having a good with the waitress and the chefs behind the grill. We drank sake by the glass - they have a nice selection.

Interior

We ordered the tofu because it said it had chile. My husband is no fan of tofu, mostly because of his experience with the grocery store stuff. This was phenomenal! Addictive!! As each dish arrives, they instruct you how to eat it. They told us to mix this all about.
Unmixed

Mixed

This next dish was cool and refreshing! Poached Egg with Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe.

This was the only dissappointing dish - the yellowtail was overcooked and dry. My husband ate it, because he’s okay with dry fish.

Lovely pig ears that they told us to drizzle chile sake over. I have to try that at home once my chiles start producing.

Melt in your mouth eggplant - they removed the skin and just left creamy interior.

The tendon was much fattier than expected, but very good. My husband enjoyed it, and he never eats tendon with me. The chef explained that one of the tendons came from a Kobe cow, making it even richer.

Pork cheek was good and I might have liked it better if my husband had not polished most of it off, leaving me with just one bite.

The foie gras was dreamy!

But the best part? The pig intestine! They cook the heck out of it, leaving just a little offal character, but it was incredibly tender with enough offal flavor to make me happy. My camera animated it and it looks like breathing offal!

Afterwards, the waitress, who I bonded with over our love of horse tartare, sent us to Alfreds for coffee, a 5 minute walk away. Had some Stumptown on nitro there.

Definitely going back to Raku!

https://aburiyarakula.wixsite.com/weho/menus

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This next dish was cool and refreshing! Poached Egg with Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe.

I’m simply amazed that you can describe that dish without using the word “slimy”.

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Have you had it? I really enjoyed it, but I love things like uni with quail egg. Someone one described that - uni with quail egg, as a french kiss.

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Yes, multiple times. And I hate it - the slime does not work for me. I know it’s a japanese thing…

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Hi @Xochitl,

So glad you enjoyed Raku! My favorite izakaya in the city. :slight_smile:

Yes! Now you understand the greatness of the Pork Intestine Skewer! :grin: So good! Tastes nothing like the usual preparations. I love that exterior crispiness as well and creamy inside.

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It’s okay. I can’t eat tendon. I don’t want to eat cartilage, or any of those weird body parts that hold a body together.

All right! More delicious connective tissue for me!!!
(photo courtesy of foodpunk.ca)

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Nice, glad you liked it. No sashimi???

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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LOLOL, I need to edit that. :cry: :slight_smile:

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I’ve loved reading this review. But I’m curious Ns1, if you hate it, why have you eaten it multiple times? I might give something a second chance but that’s it.

The first time was because the internet told me to try it
The second time was because the internet kept showing me pictures of it and I thought “maybe I didn’t give it a fair shake/it’s an acquired taste”
The third time was because the wife ordered it and forgot that we ordered it before

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Beef tendon lo mein, Cantonese pasta al dente!!!

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houhouyeah…

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Cantonese “fettuccine” works best.

Though at Raku, why not make your own beef tendon Lo Inawa Udon? :nerd_face:

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I would pilgrimage for that dish…

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No joke here.
For some reason, as I look at the image of the intestine, on my desktop computer AND on my iphone, it moves…a bit like a beating heart. None of the other images I have EVER seen on FTC are “moving.”
Weird.
Anyone else seeing this? Can’t just be me.
The Tell-Tale (In)Testine.

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Dude - it’s an animated .gif file.
Rumors of Poe’s resurrection are greatly exaggerated.

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BM?

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T[quote=“CiaoBob, post:17, topic:5715, full:true”]
No joke here.
For some reason, as I look at the image of the intestine

[/quote]

Great. Of course I had to look, and am now thoroughly grossed out by the pulsing of an intestine. I usually pretend photos like that aren’t really there.

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